On your strategy sheet is a single line known simply as "Training." Don't be misled by the amount of space warrior training receives on a strategy sheet. Careful warrior training is one of the things that can make or break a warrior. A warrior can train either skills or attributes.

Skill Learning: Learning various skills is something you will attempt to do any time you do not choose to work on attributes. Learning skills is largely influenced by a fighter's Wit. Smarter warriors will tend to learn skills faster than others.

TYPES OF SKILLS
Attack
Defense
Decisiveness
Parry
Initiative
Riposte

Each skill learned represents a new technique or series of actions your warrior has learned. Learning a skill requires a warrior to discipline their reflexes as well as mentally understand a sequence of actions. Each skill learned improves a warrior's performance in the indicated area. For example, a warrior who has learned many initiative skills will be very good at maintaining a combat advantage over their opponent.

If you learn many skills in a given area, you may earn Expert status. Expert status comes in five types: Expert, Advanced Expert, Master, Advanced Master, and Grand Master, representing increasing levels of skill. Being an expert in attack when you are an Aimed Blow Specialist may be something quite different than being an attack expert as a Bashing Attack styled warrior. Generally, becoming an expert allows you to surpass your foe's more common parries, to parry their good but not great attacks, etc. Advanced Experts have even more of this effect. You do not choose which skills you want to learn, as they are learned largely as a result of the events of the fight. Accordingly, your fighter will tend to learn those skills most commonly used by their fighting style. If, on the other hand, a warrior whom you usually fight fairly low key, begins to learn Initiative skills, follow the lead and give them a strategy which allows them to use their skills. Skills are not something to put on a strategy sheet, they are an increased ability to perform those actions.

At the end of each fight, you will be notified of any skills learned or if you reach a higher status in any area. There is no set number of skills to learn in order to achieve Expert Status. The number varies with each individual warrior. It is said that in rare cases, certain exceptional warriors may be classified as experts before they have even learned any skills in the arena. The highest level of expertise, Blade Master, is an achievement indeed. Only the exceptional warrior will ever reach this status in any area.

Attribute Development: The maximum score for any attribute is 21. Successfully increasing an attribute is largely dependent on a warrior's Will. Any attribute may be increased an unlimited number of times; however, each time an attribute is increased, the chance of further increasing that attribute is roughly halved. For most warriors, this means that it will be difficult to raise a given attribute by more than a point or two. Warriors with great willpower may eventually attain three or four increases to each attribute. A warrior with average Will has roughly even odds of increasing an attribute. These odds decrease for each successful attribute increase.

WARRIOR ATTRIBUTES
Strength
Constitution
Size
Wit
Will
Speed
Deftness

At some point the need to balance skill learning with attribute development becomes important. Sole emphasis on either area creates warriors who tend to be either overprepared and underskilled, or quite competent but without resources to utilize their knowledge. A good rule of thumb would call for some initial skill learning followed by a program of attribute increases to cover any dangerous weaknesses. Will can, in the long run, be the best attribute to increase first, since this will aid your chances of successfully increasing other attributes. By the same token, Wit development will increase your warrior's chance of learning more skills later on. Needless to say, a warrior with high Wit but low Will will benefit more by concentrating primarily on skills. Conversely, a warrior with high Will but low Wit will want to emphasize attribute development.

Experience: In addition to skill and attribute development, all warriors equally gain experience every time they fight. Experience comes into play for knowing when to press an attack, when to run, when to accept a blow which cannot be parried in time (not an easy thing to accept!), how to use any skills the warrior may have with precision, and other little tricks that could save their life.